Ruby Redfort: Look Into My Eyes, by: Lauren Child. I chose this book, because I had read a book series called the Utterly Me Clarice Bean series, also by Lauren Child. In this book series, Ruby Redfort is a book series, TV show, Movie, and she even has merchandise based on stuff and gadgets that she uses. Ruby Redfort was not really real until Lauren Child wrote the 1st book. I chose this book, because I wanted to actually call myself a true Ruby fan, now that there is a book I can. The Book Genre:
This book is a mystery book. The book has a great plot. The plot follows a girl who gets strange phone calls. Her family gets robbed. Her maid disappears. She fights crime. She stopped a very important and expensive item from being stolen. This book is the perfect example of a mystery novel. It has action, cliffhangers, suspense, and secret agents along with evil villains and evil plots. It has hi-tech spy gear for the 70’s, and it has rhyming names (Every mystery novel or movie, and every superhero comic book or movie has rhyming names). The book follows the classic mystery novel timeline: 1. something goes wrong, 2. someone mysterious shows up, they are the good guy, 3. the main character gets suspicious, 4. something happens to the main character, and the suspicious good guy helps save the day, while the main character solves the mystery, and 5. the mystery was solved, and everyone is happy. This book demonstrates the classic action and terror that you would want in a mystery novel. The main character follows a set of clues to solve the mystery. Just like in any mystery novel. There is a secret agency, where that suspicious good guy works along with the main character. The Plot:
The book starts off with Ruby spying on a suspicious cupcake truck parked outside her neighbor’s house. The truck has been there for over a day now, and she is sure it is not there to deliver cupcakes. Then one day while she is at school, someone robs her whole house accept the phones, a few of the beds, and all of Ruby’s yellow journals. Ruby thinks the cupcake truck had something to do with the robbery. They even took her family maid, Mrs. Digby. Ruby’s mom called the maid service, and asked for a household manager. The household manager or butler, Hitch, shows up. Ruby thinks he is very strange, but eventually likes him. During all of this Ruby keeps getting strange phone calls, they eventually lead her to a secret spot. Hitch secretly works for a secret agency called Spectrum. Hitch really is not the household manager, he only showed up to recruit Ruby for a once and only once job finishing cracking a code for Spectrum. Spectrum’s code cracker died in an avalanche while mountain climbing. Ruby eventually cracks the code. Ruby and Hitch become friends, and even though she is not supposed to, she tells her best friend Clancy Crew all about Spectrum. Ruby one night walks up to a car that she thinks it is Hitch’s car, but it’s not. The man in the car is Baby Faced Marshal, one of Spectrums enemies. He takes ruby with him, while Clancy Sees the whole thing. Clancy thinks Hitch is evil and that he had taken Ruby, but Hitch the next day asks Clancy where Ruby is.Clancy says “I thought you had her?” then Hitch says no. Ruby was taken to one of the museum towers. The museum heist, the cracked code, is set to take place that night during the unveiling of the Jade Buddha of Kotan. Ruby helps stop the crime, facing Baby Faced Marshal, Nine Lives, and the worst of them all Count Von Viscount “The Count”. The Characters: Ruby Redfort: Ruby is a creative, smart, problem solving girl. She likes to solve problems, and she likes to figure out things. She also makes a great spy. She is always finding things that are out of place, and trying to figure out why they are out of place. She is great at code cracking, and she likes to have fun with her best friend Clancy Crew. She is very small for her years, and always wears t-shirts with words on them and jeans. She cracks a code, escapes death, and she stops a huge crime. “Ruby was a petite girl…there was nothing particular to mark her out-nothing that is until you looked a little longer. Then you would begin to see that her eyes were ever so slightly different shades of green.” Clancy Crew: He is Ruby’s best friend. He is one of the ambassador’s sons. He is very smart, and like Ruby, he likes to crack codes. He likes to hang out with his friends, especially Ruby. He is very dramatic too, because he thinks that Ruby’s butler Hitch is evil. He thinks Hitch wants to kill Ruby or something like that. He even half way followed Ruby to the office she was working at for Spectrum, but he didn’t finish following her. He can be very rude and angry. He got mad a Ruby when she would not tell him where she was going with Hitch, so he stopped talking to her. “Clancy was a shortish, scrawny-looking boy- not exactly your “yearbook kid” but certainly one of the most engaging characters you were likely to talk to, if of course you bothered to talk to him, which most people didn’t.” Hitch: Hitch is Ruby’s household manager or butler. He is also her assistant/lifesaver in the Spectrum combat field, helping Ruby fight against the evil villains. He is a quiet guy but he is one of those people that once you get to know him, he will sort of be your best friend. He always has your back. He will never let you down. He is always trying to protect and keep you safe. He is on top of getting the important things your family needs. He will never forget to order your Banana Milk. He also makes really great pancakes. He is really great at helping plan parties, and doing the decorating. He knows just the right place to get tomato juice out of your Oscar Birdet suit jacket, or to have your new jacket pocket mended. He drives a super awesome silver convertible, and he is almost always there to pick you up in his convertible or some other means of transportation. He always says, “You got it buster”, and he likes to please his employers. “But when Ruby answered the door she was surprised to see a remarkably handsome, rather tall, formally dressed man. He was neither particularly young nor would he ever be considered in any way old- in fact it was impossible to really put any accurate age on him.” Themes & “Big Ideas”: The theme of the book is mystery novel, mixed with an ordinary rich girl’s life. Another theme is spies, with action and suspense. Friendship could also be a theme, because Ruby and Clancy fight, make up, and have an adventure stopping crime. The theme of mystery novel carries throughout the whole book, because the book has mystery’s to solve. The ordinary rich girl’s life is true. This is because Ruby’s parents just got back from an exotic trip, so she was stuck with her maid for a month in her ultra-modern house. The theme of spies with action and suspense ties in with mystery, because you cannot have a mystery without spies, action, and suspense. The spies are the Spectrum agents, the action is the crime scene and many other scenes, and the suspense is when Ruby is about to die if she doesn’t escape. You are worried if she will escape and make it or not. This is a perfect example of suspense. The theme of friendship carries out through the book because Ruby and Clancy fight over the fact that Ruby cannot tell Clancy about Spectrum and Clancy wants to know where she has been going with her butler Hitch. She has been going to Spectrum, to work on cracking a code. They make up though, because Ruby eventually tells Clancy about Spectrum. Also when ruby gets kidnapped, and escapes Clancy helps her stop the crime. Ruby and Clancy are a perfect example for friendship. Picture:
This picture has the Spectrum Agency logo, a fly, because the most obvious is sometimes the least obvious. The color spectrum is part of the background, because the Spectrum halls are the color spectrum while each room is white, black, or any other color in the spectrum. The Ruby Redfort part of the background consists of the title Ruby Redfort (Top), and a picture of Ruby (Bottom) from the book cover. The picture also has the locater device, it is a picture puzzle that when completed spells: HELP! and alerts someone that you are in trouble and it tells them where you are located. Bradly Baker, on of Spectrums best used this gadget. There is a representation of what I think Hitch, the butler, looks like. There is also an idea of what Mrs. Digby looks like, and last but not lease you have “The Count” people say that he looks like Dracula. His picture is a picture of Dracula. There is also a picture describing Ruby, her family, and some of her gadgets. Words: Dregs: Ruby gurgled down the last dregs of her banana milk. What’s left of liquid in a container. Drawled: “Some people have all the fun,” drawled Ruby. Speaking in a slow and lazy way. Vogue: It’s very in vogue. The popular fashion. Yuck: “Yuck!” Used to express strong distaste or disgust. Slumped: To collapse. Conflict or Problem:
One of the major problems is that the Jade Buddha of Kotan is going to be stolen by “The Count” and his assistance. The thing that plays into the stealing is Ruby’s things and maid getting stolen. If her things had not been stolen, and her maid and cook had not fought, then Hitch would not have shown up. If Hitch had not shown up then Ruby would have not been recruited to Spectrum, and she would not have cracked the code finding out that the Jade Buddha was going to be stolen. Another thing that plays into the stealing is Ruby’s parent’s trip to Switzerland. If her parents had not gone to Switzerland completely or not run into the people they did on their trip, Ruby would have evidence to help her crack the code and stop the crime. Another thing that plays into the stealing is Ruby’s curious mind, she was curious about the cupcake truck, and was probably right about it, and she was curious about Hitch. She was curious at Spectrum, so she wandered into the gadget room and took some of Spectrums prized Bradly Baker gadgets. The gadgets she took were the locater device, the rescue watch, and the voice thrower dog whistle. Another thing that played into the stealing is Ruby’s smartness. If Ruby wasn’t as smart as she is, she might not have been picked to crack the code. If she had not been picked to crack the code, then the Jade Buddha might have been stolen. Other Works: Nancy drew is similar to Ruby Redfort in that they are both detectives, and they really shouldn’t be at times. They both love to get into trouble if it means finding another clue. They both will do whatever they must to solve the mystery, or crack the code. They both escape evil and danger all the time. Another book related to Ruby Redfort is the Utterly Me Clarice Bean book series, because Ruby is mentioned as Clarice’s favorite thing ever. Clarice lives and breathes Ruby. She has all of the Ruby Rule Books, and is still collecting all of Ruby’s badges. She has all the books, and was even an extra in the Ruby Redfort Movie. The Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls series is also a lot like Ruby Redfort, because Ruby keeps a journal of rules and so does Allie. They both follow their rules very seriously. Allie’s rules are rules to live by, but Ruby’s are just rules. I think that if Ruby met Allie they both would be shocked to find out that someone else has a rule book too. Ruby and Allie would have so much to talk about as far as rules go. They both have life lessons in their rules, and they both keep them in journals hidden where no one can find them. They both take their rules very seriously. They also both take great care of their rule books. They make sure that no one ever finds them. They both would hate it if someone found out about their rules.
My Goodreads Review:
The book starts off with Ruby spying on a suspicious cupcake truck parked outside her neighbor’s house. The truck has been there for over a day now, and she is sure it is not there to deliver cupcakes. Then one day while she is at school, someone robs her whole house accept the phones, a few of the beds, and all of Ruby’s yellow journals. Ruby thinks the cupcake truck had something to do with the robbery. They even took her family maid, Mrs. Digby. Ruby’s mom called the maid service, and asked for a household manager. The household manager or butler, Hitch, shows up. Ruby thinks he is very strange, but eventually likes him. During all of this Ruby keeps getting strange phone calls, they eventually lead her to a secret spot. Hitch secretly works for a secret agency called Spectrum. Hitch really is not the household manager, he only showed up to recruit Ruby for a once and only once job finishing cracking a code for Spectrum. Spectrum’s code cracker died in an avalanche while mountain climbing. Ruby eventually cracks the code. Ruby and Hitch become friends, and even though she is not supposed to, she tells her best friend Clancy Crew all about Spectrum. Ruby one night walks up to a car that she thinks it is Hitch’s car, but it’s not. The man in the car is Baby Faced Marshal, one of Spectrums enemies. He takes ruby with him, while Clancy Sees the whole thing. Clancy thinks Hitch is evil and that he had taken Ruby, but Hitch the next day asks Clancy where Ruby is. Clancy says “I thought you had her?” then Hitch says no. Ruby was taken to one of the museum towers. The museum heist, the cracked code, is set to take place that night during the unveiling of the Jade Buddha of Kotan. Ruby helps stop the crime, facing Baby Faced Marshal, Nine Lives, and the worst of them all Count Von Viscount “The Count”.
The book is great, because it has mysteries and action. It is full of clues and facts that lead you to the final scene and the solved mystery. The action comes from all the scenes that involve an evil villain.
Some of the books strong points are when Hitch shows up, and when Ruby gets asked to help Spectrum out. Hitch shows up, and he really is not a butler, he is a Spectrum agent. Then as he stays with the Redfort’s, Ruby gets taken to Spectrum to fill in for a now dead code cracker finishing her work. Another strong point is when Ruby escapes death, because as the reader you don’t want her to die, you don’t know if she will die or not. There really are no weak points.
If you loved the Utterly Me Clarice Bean books and you like mystery, action, suspense, and code cracking, then you will love this book for sure. If you don’t like any of that stuff then it is probably best if you do not read this book, because it would upset Ruby fans allover if a non-ruby fan read a Ruby book.
Overall this book is super great. It is a fun to read book full of mystery, action, and suspense, filled with secret agents, secret agencies, evil villains, and priceless artifacts. It has a great plot line, and great characters. It is a super great book.
The Book Genre:
This book is a mystery book. The book has a great plot. The plot follows a girl who gets strange phone calls. Her family gets robbed. Her maid disappears. She fights crime. She stopped a very important and expensive item from being stolen. This book is the perfect example of a mystery novel. It has action, cliffhangers, suspense, and secret agents along with evil villains and evil plots. It has hi-tech spy gear for the 70’s, and it has rhyming names (Every mystery novel or movie, and every superhero comic book or movie has rhyming names). The book follows the classic mystery novel timeline: 1. something goes wrong, 2. someone mysterious shows up, they are the good guy, 3. the main character gets suspicious, 4. something happens to the main character, and the suspicious good guy helps save the day, while the main character solves the mystery, and 5. the mystery was solved, and everyone is happy. This book demonstrates the classic action and terror that you would want in a mystery novel. The main character follows a set of clues to solve the mystery. Just like in any mystery novel. There is a secret agency, where that suspicious good guy works along with the main character.
The Plot:
The book starts off with Ruby spying on a suspicious cupcake truck parked outside her neighbor’s house. The truck has been there for over a day now, and she is sure it is not there to deliver cupcakes. Then one day while she is at school, someone robs her whole house accept the phones, a few of the beds, and all of Ruby’s yellow journals. Ruby thinks the cupcake truck had something to do with the robbery. They even took her family maid, Mrs. Digby. Ruby’s mom called the maid service, and asked for a household manager. The household manager or butler, Hitch, shows up. Ruby thinks he is very strange, but eventually likes him. During all of this Ruby keeps getting strange phone calls, they eventually lead her to a secret spot. Hitch secretly works for a secret agency called Spectrum. Hitch really is not the household manager, he only showed up to recruit Ruby for a once and only once job finishing cracking a code for Spectrum. Spectrum’s code cracker died in an avalanche while mountain climbing. Ruby eventually cracks the code. Ruby and Hitch become friends, and even though she is not supposed to, she tells her best friend Clancy Crew all about Spectrum. Ruby one night walks up to a car that she thinks it is Hitch’s car, but it’s not. The man in the car is Baby Faced Marshal, one of Spectrums enemies. He takes ruby with him, while Clancy Sees the whole thing. Clancy thinks Hitch is evil and that he had taken Ruby, but Hitch the next day asks Clancy where Ruby is.Clancy says “I thought you had her?” then Hitch says no. Ruby was taken to one of the museum towers. The museum heist, the cracked code, is set to take place that night during the unveiling of the Jade Buddha of Kotan. Ruby helps stop the crime, facing Baby Faced Marshal, Nine Lives, and the worst of them all Count Von Viscount “The Count”.
The Characters:
Ruby Redfort: Ruby is a creative, smart, problem solving girl. She likes to solve problems, and she likes to figure out things. She also makes a great spy. She is always finding things that are out of place, and trying to figure out why they are out of place. She is great at code cracking, and she likes to have fun with her best friend Clancy Crew. She is very small for her years, and always wears t-shirts with words on them and jeans. She cracks a code, escapes death, and she stops a huge crime. “Ruby was a petite girl…there was nothing particular to mark her out-nothing that is until you looked a little longer. Then you would begin to see that her eyes were ever so slightly different shades of green.”
Clancy Crew: He is Ruby’s best friend. He is one of the ambassador’s sons. He is very smart, and like Ruby, he likes to crack codes. He likes to hang out with his friends, especially Ruby. He is very dramatic too, because he thinks that Ruby’s butler Hitch is evil. He thinks Hitch wants to kill Ruby or something like that. He even half way followed Ruby to the office she was working at for Spectrum, but he didn’t finish following her. He can be very rude and angry. He got mad a Ruby when she would not tell him where she was going with Hitch, so he stopped talking to her. “Clancy was a shortish, scrawny-looking boy- not exactly your “yearbook kid” but certainly one of the most engaging characters you were likely to talk to, if of course you bothered to talk to him, which most people didn’t.”
Hitch: Hitch is Ruby’s household manager or butler. He is also her assistant/lifesaver in the Spectrum combat field, helping Ruby fight against the evil villains. He is a quiet guy but he is one of those people that once you get to know him, he will sort of be your best friend. He always has your back. He will never let you down. He is always trying to protect and keep you safe. He is on top of getting the important things your family needs. He will never forget to order your Banana Milk. He also makes really great pancakes. He is really great at helping plan parties, and doing the decorating. He knows just the right place to get tomato juice out of your Oscar Birdet suit jacket, or to have your new jacket pocket mended. He drives a super awesome silver convertible, and he is almost always there to pick you up in his convertible or some other means of transportation. He always says, “You got it buster”, and he likes to please his employers. “But when Ruby answered the door she was surprised to see a remarkably handsome, rather tall, formally dressed man. He was neither particularly young nor would he ever be considered in any way old- in fact it was impossible to really put any accurate age on him.”
Themes & “Big Ideas”:
The theme of the book is mystery novel, mixed with an ordinary rich girl’s life. Another theme is spies, with action and suspense. Friendship could also be a theme, because Ruby and Clancy fight, make up, and have an adventure stopping crime. The theme of mystery novel carries throughout the whole book, because the book has mystery’s to solve. The ordinary rich girl’s life is true. This is because Ruby’s parents just got back from an exotic trip, so she was stuck with her maid for a month in her ultra-modern house. The theme of spies with action and suspense ties in with mystery, because you cannot have a mystery without spies, action, and suspense. The spies are the Spectrum agents, the action is the crime scene and many other scenes, and the suspense is when Ruby is about to die if she doesn’t escape. You are worried if she will escape and make it or not. This is a perfect example of suspense. The theme of friendship carries out through the book because Ruby and Clancy fight over the fact that Ruby cannot tell Clancy about Spectrum and Clancy wants to know where she has been going with her butler Hitch. She has been going to Spectrum, to work on cracking a code. They make up though, because Ruby eventually tells Clancy about Spectrum. Also when ruby gets kidnapped, and escapes Clancy helps her stop the crime. Ruby and Clancy are a perfect example for friendship.
Picture:
This picture has the Spectrum Agency logo, a fly, because the most obvious is sometimes the least obvious. The color spectrum is part of the background, because the Spectrum halls are the color spectrum while each room is white, black, or any other color in the spectrum. The Ruby Redfort part of the background consists of the title Ruby Redfort (Top), and a picture of Ruby (Bottom) from the book cover. The picture also has the locater device, it is a picture puzzle that when completed spells: HELP! and alerts someone that you are in trouble and it tells them where you are located. Bradly Baker, on of Spectrums best used this gadget. There is a representation of what I think Hitch, the butler, looks like. There is also an idea of what Mrs. Digby looks like, and last but not lease you have “The Count” people say that he looks like Dracula. His picture is a picture of Dracula. There is also a picture describing Ruby, her family, and some of her gadgets.
Words:
Dregs: Ruby gurgled down the last dregs of her banana milk. What’s left of liquid in a container.
Drawled: “Some people have all the fun,” drawled Ruby. Speaking in a slow and lazy way.
Vogue: It’s very in vogue. The popular fashion.
Yuck: “Yuck!” Used to express strong distaste or disgust.
Slumped: To collapse.
Conflict or Problem:
One of the major problems is that the Jade Buddha of Kotan is going to be stolen by “The Count” and his assistance. The thing that plays into the stealing is Ruby’s things and maid getting stolen. If her things had not been stolen, and her maid and cook had not fought, then Hitch would not have shown up. If Hitch had not shown up then Ruby would have not been recruited to Spectrum, and she would not have cracked the code finding out that the Jade Buddha was going to be stolen. Another thing that plays into the stealing is Ruby’s parent’s trip to Switzerland. If her parents had not gone to Switzerland completely or not run into the people they did on their trip, Ruby would have evidence to help her crack the code and stop the crime. Another thing that plays into the stealing is Ruby’s curious mind, she was curious about the cupcake truck, and was probably right about it, and she was curious about Hitch. She was curious at Spectrum, so she wandered into the gadget room and took some of Spectrums prized Bradly Baker gadgets. The gadgets she took were the locater device, the rescue watch, and the voice thrower dog whistle. Another thing that played into the stealing is Ruby’s smartness. If Ruby wasn’t as smart as she is, she might not have been picked to crack the code. If she had not been picked to crack the code, then the Jade Buddha might have been stolen.
Other Works:
Nancy drew is similar to Ruby Redfort in that they are both detectives, and they really shouldn’t be at times. They both love to get into trouble if it means finding another clue. They both will do whatever they must to solve the mystery, or crack the code. They both escape evil and danger all the time. Another book related to Ruby Redfort is the Utterly Me Clarice Bean book series, because Ruby is mentioned as Clarice’s favorite thing ever. Clarice lives and breathes Ruby. She has all of the Ruby Rule Books, and is still collecting all of Ruby’s badges. She has all the books, and was even an extra in the Ruby Redfort Movie. The Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls series is also a lot like Ruby Redfort, because Ruby keeps a journal of rules and so does Allie. They both follow their rules very seriously. Allie’s rules are rules to live by, but Ruby’s are just rules. I think that if Ruby met Allie they both would be shocked to find out that someone else has a rule book too. Ruby and Allie would have so much to talk about as far as rules go. They both have life lessons in their rules, and they both keep them in journals hidden where no one can find them. They both take their rules very seriously. They also both take great care of their rule books. They make sure that no one ever finds them. They both would hate it if someone found out about their rules.
My Goodreads Review:
The book starts off with Ruby spying on a suspicious cupcake truck parked outside her neighbor’s house. The truck has been there for over a day now, and she is sure it is not there to deliver cupcakes. Then one day while she is at school, someone robs her whole house accept the phones, a few of the beds, and all of Ruby’s yellow journals. Ruby thinks the cupcake truck had something to do with the robbery. They even took her family maid, Mrs. Digby. Ruby’s mom called the maid service, and asked for a household manager. The household manager or butler, Hitch, shows up. Ruby thinks he is very strange, but eventually likes him. During all of this Ruby keeps getting strange phone calls, they eventually lead her to a secret spot. Hitch secretly works for a secret agency called Spectrum. Hitch really is not the household manager, he only showed up to recruit Ruby for a once and only once job finishing cracking a code for Spectrum. Spectrum’s code cracker died in an avalanche while mountain climbing. Ruby eventually cracks the code. Ruby and Hitch become friends, and even though she is not supposed to, she tells her best friend Clancy Crew all about Spectrum. Ruby one night walks up to a car that she thinks it is Hitch’s car, but it’s not. The man in the car is Baby Faced Marshal, one of Spectrums enemies. He takes ruby with him, while Clancy Sees the whole thing. Clancy thinks Hitch is evil and that he had taken Ruby, but Hitch the next day asks Clancy where Ruby is. Clancy says “I thought you had her?” then Hitch says no. Ruby was taken to one of the museum towers. The museum heist, the cracked code, is set to take place that night during the unveiling of the Jade Buddha of Kotan. Ruby helps stop the crime, facing Baby Faced Marshal, Nine Lives, and the worst of them all Count Von Viscount “The Count”.The book is great, because it has mysteries and action. It is full of clues and facts that lead you to the final scene and the solved mystery. The action comes from all the scenes that involve an evil villain.
Some of the books strong points are when Hitch shows up, and when Ruby gets asked to help Spectrum out. Hitch shows up, and he really is not a butler, he is a Spectrum agent. Then as he stays with the Redfort’s, Ruby gets taken to Spectrum to fill in for a now dead code cracker finishing her work. Another strong point is when Ruby escapes death, because as the reader you don’t want her to die, you don’t know if she will die or not. There really are no weak points.
If you loved the Utterly Me Clarice Bean books and you like mystery, action, suspense, and code cracking, then you will love this book for sure. If you don’t like any of that stuff then it is probably best if you do not read this book, because it would upset Ruby fans allover if a non-ruby fan read a Ruby book.
Overall this book is super great. It is a fun to read book full of mystery, action, and suspense, filled with secret agents, secret agencies, evil villains, and priceless artifacts. It has a great plot line, and great characters. It is a super great book.
The Official Ruby Website:
http://rubyredfort.com/___